Is my daily beer intake unhealthy?

[ReverendTap]

Last I heard genetics and family history have at least as much, if not more, impact on overall cholesterol levels as diet. Is that no longer the current medical thinking on the issue?

 

[PanzerBanana]

well you can offset calories in the beer by skipping a snack, or opting for a healthy alternative later. Or making the beer that particular snack.

Excluding the alcohol beer is rather healthy. If you just want to enjoy beer for itself you could find or brew something with a lower ABV for regular consumption.

As for cholesterol, genetics can play a part. Also do you get enough fiber and fruits and vegetables? Also what are your choices when you eat out?

Being young doesn't mean you've got a free pass for health.

 

[HSM]

Wow am I the only one on the forum that drinks daily??

I calculated that my 5% beer should come in at about 400 calories for the 1L bottle. I usually drink the bottle of 2 hours or so. Then have dinner.

Would having a few beers like this a day put me in the category of a heavy drinker?

Are you in nursing school? 2hrs to drink 1L of beer you must be!

I think I've had a gallon of beer in the past 2 hrs so I guess I'm not all that concerned with intake.

Enjoy!

 

[gtpro]

as long as you're not drinking a liter of beer and then beating your wife, I see no problem

 

[BBKing]

I lean towards the thought that moderation is the key to a happy and healthy life. I believe that eating healthy, daily exercise and a couple of beers along w/ plenty of water is good for you.

OP, I'm not sure but I don't picture you as a 4'9" 90lb female, so 2 or 3 beers a day is moderate imo. A big part of being healthy is being happy. So naturally, you should drink a liter of beer a day if that makes you happy..

Well said!

I usually drink 2 pints a day and will continue to do so because, well, I friggin enjoy it!

 

[ronaldo_fanbelt]

Keep up the habit, I don't think it will hurt you.

 

[Moose777]

Yes it's very unhealthy you drunk. Lol, you're asking a bunch of brewers this question?
Drink up brother just keep it in moderation.

 

[johnmcc]

During the week i keep myself to 1 12oz, weekends it's 4-6 depending.

 

[Moose777]

It's really tough not to grab a few when you have 4 taps and all are well conditioned aged home brews...

 

[Lonnie Mac]

I lean towards the thought that moderation is the key to a happy and healthy life. --- A big part of being healthy is being happy. So naturally, you should drink a liter of beer a day if that makes you happy..

Thank you... This post has made my day!

 

[Moose777]

Don't worry be happy.
RDWHAHB

 

[Erythro73]

... Damn, sounds like a lot of people here are drinking _ A LOT_. I drink about 2-3 beers/week and I'm glad. More than that, and I fell guilty for the calories intake.

I hope you all exercise a lot in order to keep you in shape. Like other people said before, beer contains calories which, if not burnt, can lead to fat, which can lead to heart disease, diabete and other things like that.

It's important to stay in shape, and what the OP said reminds me of my ol' dad.

My father was a good beer drinker like some of you (a little bit less, he wasn't drinking everyday, but he just loved to drink his 950 ml can of Budweiser some times in the week along with soda cracker, and stuff like that), weighted 220-230 lbs for 5'11" and didn't exerciced at all. Well guess what? At 50, he suffered a heart attack (myocardial infarction) which he survived, but with a 30-40% heart power a normal person would have, and well, I don't remember exactly why, but his kidney weren't working as good. He made a lot of water retention, so his belly was swelling because of all the water accumulating there.

So he had to drink about 1-1.5 liters of liquid MAXIMUM per day. He couldn't drink more. He couldn't drink alcohol anymore. Boy did he regret a lot of things he did after that. He died 4 years after his infarction. It was sad to see him measuring every cup of water he was drinking.

So exercise a lot if you want to continue to drink beer and stay in shape.

 

[Moose777]

Very well said.

 

[TheCookieMonster]

Wow I'm the OP and I think the signs show at 33 that I'm going to end up just like your dad. I have all the risk factors except the smoking (although I just quit only last summer).

The thing is that I also never knew my Dad, so I dont know if mine is hereditary.

Yesterday was sad. I had only 2 pints of beer and eat ground chick peas and pita bread for dinner. Today for breakfast I'm going to have oatmeal with sweetener. Then we are going out to look for a treadmill. What a fun weekend.

I just can't believe this. If you visibly saw me and my wife you might say I dont have a weight problem. My wife is even 115lbs! She's like 10lbs over weight. And her tests also came back bornderline 'high'. We don't even eat that much saturated fats. We even asked the restaurants we used to go to what oil they used and they said corn oil. We ate bacon on our homemade pizza ONCE a week as a TOPPING, but can that raise cholesterol so high? We've traced down our big saturated fat intake to our home made pizzas each week.. but damn a few slices of pizza causing that much high cholesterol???

 

[Erythro73]

If I may say, maybe you want to do something else than a treadmill. It's the kind of thing which is very practical, but a lot of person lose their motivation rather quickly on this. On a day-to-day basis, it's all right, but I would suggest something else. I think the treadmill is a great tool to support your motivation and progress in other sports, but like I said, it's also the kind of thing were your motivation may be lacking after a few weeks.

Like muscular training. It's the kind of thing you see the results and thus are more likely to continue. It's very cool to see your muscles grow as your belly burns. I really think the combination treadmill + muscular training is the way to go. (And even if she says the opposite, I'm pretty sure your wife would like your new 6-packs with your big biceps -- as long as you don't always boast yourself and only talk about it). You'll really feel more self-confident, more proud and healthier. It's great to say "Damn, did I earn my beer!" after your routine.

You may also like to do some hiking. I like to do it personally because of the beautiful pictures I can take when I'm at the top. It's a good source of motivation. Some landscape are just breath-taking. The sentiment of success is very good too.

Some people I know bike a lot. It's a great exercice. I know of people who bike to micro-breweries, which can be a great source of motivation .

Or organized league. You are Canadian, you live in Toronto, the biggest city in Canada. I'm pretty sure you can find some organized hockey/hockey cosom league. Or soccer if you like it. These sports are very demanding, cardio-vascularly, so it would be very good for you. Tennis, maybe? Your wife could be your tennis partner! Or martial arts (karate, judo, ninjutsu... chose one which you find cool on youtube and go for it). Team sports can be very damn good on motivation, because you always push yourself to the max for the team, something you may not be ready to do for yourself yet. Tango dancing too seems to be a nice exercise.

There's a lot of sport you can practice, and a lot of mean to be healthier. Try to find one where you're sure your motivation won't wane quickly. It's for your health.

 

[NCBeernut]

If you have a serious health question, ask a doctor. Also, we all don't know the health benefits of beer...it is definitely a gray area. There is a lot more info on your health history and blood work that would be needed to give you an answer like that. I drink about 3 beers a day, but I'm not asking for advice either. With my lifestyle and health considerations, I don't consider it to be much of a concern, though I know I would be a little healthier if I cut back.

 

[adamjab19]

Hello, I am 26 with high cholesterol. My good cholesterol was at a good level but my total and low density cholesterol were all 30 points too high! It runs in my family and in fact nearly every male along my dad's side has had some heart attack/failure/bypass/died because of a heart issue/procedure. Plus these numbers came out after a summer of training for a 10k and eating somewhat properly! I thought I was beating the curve.

Soooo.....

Be lucky you have found out and are able to right the ship now even if that does include medicines, they work! I think this is why my family history is so bad because back in the day you didn't get your cholesterol checked until you had chest pains or whatever. Preventative medicine is a good thing!

Good luck with the treadmill though. I have one and enjoy running but more than half the battle is the mind game of running in the same spot for however long EVEN if you have a TV or music.

 

[MarkSheffield]

I started having cholesterol problems a few years ago - not real high, borderline. I am 5' 10", 185, run 10-15 miles weekly and eat pretty well. I wasn't able to get the cholesterol down, though, so the Dr. wanted to put me on statins. I avoided this for a couple years and tried to handle it with diet and exercise, to no real avail. A while later I had a sports-related foot injury that needed an x-ray. In that x-ray, the Dr. saw calcification in the blood vessels. That got me upset enough that I went on the statins right away and the cholesterol dropped like a rock and has stayed low.

The point of all this is that sometimes diet and exercise don't work and you don't necessarily have any control over what your cholesterol is - you might need to take some drugs for it.

 

[uechikid]

I started having cholesterol problems a few years ago - not real high, borderline. I am 5' 10", 185, run 10-15 miles weekly and eat pretty well. I wasn't able to get the cholesterol down, though, so the Dr. wanted to put me on statins. I avoided this for a couple years and tried to handle it with diet and exercise, to no real avail. A while later I had a sports-related foot injury that needed an x-ray. In that x-ray, the Dr. saw calcification in the blood vessels. That got me upset enough that I went on the statins right away and the cholesterol dropped like a rock and has stayed low.

The point of all this is that sometimes diet and exercise don't work and you don't necessarily have any control over what your cholesterol is - you might need to take some drugs for it.

Jim Fixx, running guru from the 70s and 80s died of a heart attach while running and Arthur Ashe Famous tennis player had a heart attach in his prime. It's not all about diet and exercise. All though they are important.

 

[BendBrewer]

hmm........

20+10+12+12+12+12+12+12=100oz.

Can I change the question?

Is 3L of beer a day bad for me? That's a normal weekday.

 

[beermonster1985]

all about luck of what your born with, obviously u have to look after yourself a little bit, my ole man been drinking pretty much everyday since he was 18-19, and hes 64 now and although he has given up the smoking still drinking, he has had 1 heart attack but after tests the docter said his liver was perfect, gave us all a good laugh

 

[BendBrewer]

all about luck of what your born with, obviously u have to look after yourself a little bit, my ole man been drinking pretty much everyday since he was 18-19, and hes 64 now and although he has given up the smoking still drinking, he has had 1 heart attack but after tests the docter said his liver was perfect, gave us all a good laugh

Well that's good to hear.

I would rather drink 8-9 beers from 3:30 to 10:00 than 4 soda pops.

And I do.

 

[Cliff897]

Just curious - why give up fluoride enriched tap water???? and toothpaste?

I was wondering the same thing

There are some people that try to make some connection between dental health use of the mineral fluoride and URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE witch is used to refine Uranium. Those people are barking mad.

They are not the same thing.

 

[Tlylebrew]

I would propose that doctors don't know what a proper cholestrol level is, and most would try to put you on some new fad drug just to get you popping pills everyday. Now let me start off by saying I am not a doctor.. Now that we got that out of the way let me give my two cents....

Some people have high cholestorol, some people don't. Some people who have high cholestorol also have heart attacks. Alot of people who's cholestorol is normal also have heart attacks.

My doctor tried to put me on one of those cholestorol lowering drugs. I said heck no!! I'll let you know in a few years if I have a heart attack

Regardless of that. Homebrew has yeasties in it. The yeasties are loaded with amino acids that you don't find in filtered beers. This gives you a bunch of B vitamins you don't normally get.. So I say drink the beer in moderation, not to the point of drunkenness.

Hey guys.

I am the original poster and wanted to share some bad news with you guys.

I'm a 33 year old at 230lbs and 5'11 who likes to go to restaurants, eat pizza, drink beer etc. I'm not someone who lives on McDonalds and fast food.

However, I originally posted this question because I knew I was going in for blood test results. I posted this question about an hour before I went in.

Well I went in and unfortunately, I have high cholesterol at 33 years old. My cholesterol is borderline medication zone. Like .05 away.

I eat red meat maybe once a week, if that. I always thought that I didn't eat that much saturated fats. Yes I eat pizza once to twice a week, but my levels were pretty high. I do like the food and do like to eat.

Not only was I high in cholesterol, my wife was also borderline 'high'. We both have normal 'good' cholesterol ranges, but we both have too much 'bad' cholesterol ranges. If you saw us you may think otherwise.

Wow I'm going to have to make some life changes. I can't believe this is happening at my age. We can no longer eat pizza, eat out, etc. We must exercise regularly now. The movie 'super size me' is coming to life for us. I can't believe that some restaurants, Chinese food, and pizza could cause this.

The question became about the beer. Well, all we keep reading is articles of how it raises 'good' cholesterol levels and it's actually something we should not cut out of our diet.

I really suggest people get their cholesterol checked if they haven't. Especially if they are at a young age.

 

[Tlylebrew]

Just wanted to add I eat a lot of popcorn.. Popcorn in my opinion is good for you and goes well with beer.. And just for the record, I pop my own popcorn, not the microwave crap. The microwave crap includes some man-made butter that is not butter but will kill you.

 

[TVarmy]

I'm a 21 year old guy, and this thread is exactly what I needed to see. I've been drinking one or two beers on the weekend and on my days off (college student), and I never really saw adult drinking in my house. Thus, I was getting nervous that my habit of sampling craft beers three or four times a week was excessive, dangerous to my liver, causing early onset Alzheimers, etc. Good to see some statistics with real data on what the stuff does, regarding the damage per drink. Also, I was half-afraid I was a "moderate" drinker, but you guys all bring me to shame.

 

[Tlylebrew]

Well to tell you the truth both my parents were alcoholics.. And because of this I keep a steady watch on my drinking. Not to mention my wife is aware of this fact and she monitors this very closely.

Truth is the difference between a moderate drinker and someone who drinks in excess is very close, and the tipping point is not much.

Too sum it up in lamens terms, if you drink to get drunk you have a problem. If you drink to the point where you feel a little tingeling then you probably will be okay. Problem is you build up a tolerance over time and you must be careful not to confuse the two.

I'm a 21 year old guy, and this thread is exactly what I needed to see. I've been drinking one or two beers on the weekend and on my days off (college student), and I never really saw adult drinking in my house. Thus, I was getting nervous that my habit of sampling craft beers three or four times a week was excessive, dangerous to my liver, causing early onset Alzheimers, etc. Good to see some statistics with real data on what the stuff does, regarding the damage per drink. Also, I was half-afraid I was a "moderate" drinker, but you guys all bring me to shame.

 

[kaiser423]

Wow I'm the OP and I think the signs show at 33 that I'm going to end up just like your dad. I have all the risk factors except the smoking (although I just quit only last summer).

The thing is that I also never knew my Dad, so I dont know if mine is hereditary.

Yesterday was sad. I had only 2 pints of beer and eat ground chick peas and pita bread for dinner. Today for breakfast I'm going to have oatmeal with sweetener. Then we are going out to look for a treadmill. What a fun weekend.

I just can't believe this. If you visibly saw me and my wife you might say I dont have a weight problem. My wife is even 115lbs! She's like 10lbs over weight. And her tests also came back bornderline 'high'. We don't even eat that much saturated fats. We even asked the restaurants we used to go to what oil they used and they said corn oil. We ate bacon on our homemade pizza ONCE a week as a TOPPING, but can that raise cholesterol so high? We've traced down our big saturated fat intake to our home made pizzas each week.. but damn a few slices of pizza causing that much high cholesterol???

I'm 6'1" and when I'm up at 220 lbs I have a pretty damn big belly if I push it out. At 205 it's pretty much tucked in, and at 195 I have it in pretty good shape. I'm average build with a pretty good chunk of muscle. At 5'11" and 230, you got some extra weight on you man. No doubt. Just drop it some.

I had good cholesterol in college mainly due to working out, not due to diet. Weighed about 187. Blew out my knee, ballooned up to 220, had bad cholesterol. My cholesterol comes in good if I'm ~210. Above that, the doctor's give me talks about things. Below that and they don't. It's just that simple, for my body at least.

Sure, watch your food intake some (say mostly bye-bye to sausage, pepperoni, etc on those pizzas).

Eat some cholesterol busting foods like oatmeal and granola (homemade granola with yogurt and fruit is simple, easy, and healthy as can be. My meat and potatoes only eating brother-in-law requests this for breakfast every time when he shows up. It is seriously good). Watch portion sizes, cut out soft drinks, blah, blah, blah.

But really, just enjoy life some man. Have your beers. That's not enough to be a problem, but also look at your overall health picture. The doctors are shooting for you to be the image of perfect health, and you're not there. Oh well. But at least you know to try and fix some things up some. But don't stop drinking your beers. Don't have a crisis over your beers until you've done some other things and they haven't worked out.

Don't go overboard, just drop a bit of weight! The bottom line is that stress is also a factor for high cholesterol. If the beer decreases your stress, then it very well may be a net benefit.

 

[l1ranger]

whats the point of life if you don't enjoy it?

of course, there's a certain amount of effort required on our part to enjoy life as well. I'm not saying to eat what you want, do what you want and not worry about consequences, but find a balance.
i've always been pretty active, wrestling, boxing, rugby, kayaking, hiking, biking etc. and i've always pretty much eaten what I wanted and drank when i wanted a beer. this past winter was pretty rough here and all my outdoor activities were stalled from december to just a few weeks ago. I didnt pick up any extra exercise actvity, but continues to eat and drink as normal. its put a hurtin on me. I finaly got out kayaking last weekend, and after the first mile I had to grab the boat and walk out. I was fatigued, out of breath and all out exhausted.
am i going to give up my beer? hell no. but i"ll watch what i eat a bit more and be ready to get some exercise in some other way when my outdoor activities fall through. basically get my back into some form of being in shape.

for comparison purposes, I probably drink 2 to 4 12 oz beers on any given day. of course, some days i have none. sometimes I'll have none for 4 or 5 days in a row, and on occassion I'll have much more than 2 to 4.

the body is a pretty amazing machine, when properly maintained, but, IMO, there has to be a balance when dealing with health and enjoyment. I'm not going to be the guy that eats only spinach and drinks only water and runs 30 miles a week, nor will i be the guy that eats a pound of bacon and drinks a case a day while playing video games on the couch.

 

[Monty420th]

life is too short, do what the hell you want...within reason of course, if you get blasted one night...take the next two off

excess in moderation...oh and not eating at night gets you drunk quicker

BTW, always a good idea to keep a spare liver in your keezer

IMO, nothing in the current times is good for you including food, water, and air. Learn to enjoy it in small portions and you will be fine. don't mean to sound like an a$$, but almost nothing is good for you...one of my good friends was a marathon runner and died at 35 due to cancer, enjoy life is my opinion